


Ice Cold

by daystiny6



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Cold, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:28:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27489589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daystiny6/pseuds/daystiny6
Summary: Mingyu, Wonwoo, Seungkwan, accidentally got sucked into a portal that lead into a whole new world.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	1. [one]

if it weren't for the rain, mingyu could have been home by now.

winter just ended less than a week ago and he could see from afar many people holding onto their umbrellas while cleaning up the large field near the town hall. the town had just recently held their new year party which lasted for three days. he didn't participate in the cleaning which means he's the one who decorates the place, along with a bunch of other people.

and of course, a few days after every new year comes work. you see, mingyu works at this big food company as the sales executive director and has been seen all over the tall building ordering organics and dealing with customer care. he got extremely sick with the job but he's willing to do that for the sake of living in a good economical state, seeing as well that he also needs to care for his parents and three younger brothers who were no more than little kids the age of twelve. mingyu's life could've been better if he lived out of town, but what could he do with unattended children and jobless parents? stay. that was what he did for the past three years of his life.

imagine if you're in his position right now; a twenty-five year old man has already been in a high rank, still goes to university due to seeking higher education, and loves the smell of books and lavender? going to the library, of course. there he is walking swiftly as he looked at the usual old library doors made of oak the color of faded brown. many people have come here too much to even bother the handles of the large doors; thinner than the ones used for exiting.

what he would be greeted with is the fresh scent of lavender essential oil and books that stood proudly on the tall wood shelves topped with labels for every single section. mingyu would dive in to the business section, sit there and read until he sleeps and somebody would wake him up to let him know that the library would close soon.

"good afternoon." the librarian strated behind the desk smiled, looking away from his favorite novel to see a very tall man with a long coat and boots come in. "afternoon, jeon."

mingyu looked away from the man and blushed, seeing how the jeon's jet black hair is tied up just like an apple in the purpose of seeing a better few of every page. "do you have any books you recommend?" the businessman looked at the librarian once again, hoping that he would at least put the book away and have a talk.

"shakespeare."

"not shakespeare again! you know how bored I got reading macbeth." no matter how much mingyu huffed and puffed the older man would always say the names of famous writers from the medival times, or maybe other ones that have very hard language.

fortunately for this time the man stood up after taking his book away, and took mingyu to the literature section, where everything about it speaks very complicated old words and very many idioms and phrases mingyu couldn't catch from reading the first time.

it's been a long time since the taller had seen the other smile shyly while sliding a divider between books and shoves one to mingyu's hands. "wonwoo, wait-"

"have a nice day."  
"wait, wonwoo you're giving me a book that I've never seen before nor have I known the author. you know how much I liked children's books?

"mingyu, look. I know you're trying to get a piece of time together with me but I don't feel like it. try talking to soonyoung or jeonghan or anyone, that can talk to you a bunch of other stuff." wonwoo replied, his voice as deep and monotone as it always is. mingyu heaved a deep sigh and walked towards the sitting area in defeat while the older start back to the librarian's space and take back the book that has been on the table for quite some time.

"everything is boring about him." soonyoung said as a grin was plastered onto his face. mingyu looked at him in disgust, but at the same time trying to hard not to laugh because there might or might not be a small piece of vegetable stuck in between his teeth. being the prankster the taller is he left that embarrassing mark as it is and went to read the first few words from the book called "heart of darkness", which he found pretty amusing since this is the point wonwoo would probably read because there's darkness written on the title.

soonyoung wheezed, making no sound from his mouth, and pressed gently his best friend's back, "for you it isn't."

"shut up or I'm never going to let you tease seungkwan again." the younger scoffed, trying to get rid of the older's touch. "oh, someone is having a teeny weeny crush on a bit with the name-"

"I'm not letting you have those last words."

soonyoung's face was about to turn red from being unable to breath, his nose and mouth trapped under mingyu's very large hands. soon enough mingyu let go, leaving the playful man sitting alone on the sitting space. opening his brown coat mingyu sat down on one of the navy blue bean bags that rested quietly on the carpet surrounding children's books.

wonwoo took a peek (since the beanbag area is just across his own table just meters away) at mingyu whose eyes are fixated to the letters on the faint brown papers. flipping his own book, he watched as the younger heaved a sigh and stood up. "is the book fun?"

"no. I thought we'd be talking about a bunch of stuff instead of just looking at letters." the man complained, his back arched as he lazily put back the book to where he left the divider in. "maybe you should start from this one." wonwoo searched around from the bookshelf next to him.

"I thought those are your most treasured books and I'm not allowed to touch them." gosh, this man still acts like a whole baby. "you can bring it home and read it. if you want."

the book is encased in a blue velvet locker, perfectly fitting the book that was held inside. there was a key to a lock which mingyu took from wonwoo's hands earlier, and he opened the lock to reveal a very fancy looking book with glitter placed evenly apart from each other, and a large nugget of gold placed to obviously in the middle. the pages inside are the color of a red heart tree, a very beautiful pale crimson. the color of the book is the same blue as the case, but this time the hard cover showed a title. "kingdom of polius." mingyu read out loud, his eyes drifting to the older man who still sat on his seat waiting for the younger to show a reaction.

"this one is boring."  
"no!" wonwoo shouted, his eyes sparkling as he pushed the book back to mingyu's hands. "keep it. read it first. turn every page and you'll understand the wonders of it." if wonwoo is honest, he would probably say that he has never read it. he found the first few chapters boring too so he never finished the book. since the collection in his bookshelf he had read it all, he wants mingyu to learn more about that one.

"i- i don't know. look, wonwoo. i may look like a person who have lots of time in my hands, but that isn't want you're supposed to believe that I am. I'll just go for aesop or something."  
"mingyu trust me. that book is one of the best books I've got to read."

mingyu finally gave in after several minutes of discussion and clearly, wonwoo has no time for some weird rambling with one of the most famous people in town.

"it's getting really late. go home, mingyu."  
"I will."

...


	2. [two]

"polius has been in the worst weather since the 1900s- I don't even understand why. is polius in some weird north pole or something?" mingyu said to himself, motioning to get his daily cup of coffee. it was day seven of reading polius and this is mostly about the history of how the land was built and filled with its first civilization, traditions, and the weather. mostly the weather. the strange thing about this book is that it has no author, no isbn and such, and no publisher. this looks like a book you can get out of chick-lit that has no one to approve to make it public.

mingyu always peeked at the back of the book and the last pages for no apparent reason, but it works for him. he loves to spoil the stories he reads by looking at the epilogue and such, it made him think that if he finishes it quickly he would be able to read the end seriously. and of course, he didn't expect seeing at least one hundred pages blank near the end. it made his question, is this book beneficial to him, and why did wonwoo give him such a book?

"many children have starved to death and bears started taking over the kingdom." he talked to himself, opening a cupboard to take his a plate for his croissant. "this is driving me crazy." mingyu took the spoon he has been holding in with his mouth and used it to stir his warm coffee, looking at the view of the beach from his large office.

"mr. kim, someone is waiting for you outside." an employee walked into the room which made mingyu jump from his place. he was about to throw hands until he saw seungkwan walking in with stacks and stacks of papers with folded documents as well and dark blue folders that rest at the top of the stack. the director rushed to give seungkwan some assistance by taking the papers away from the employee. he didn't see the younger blushing when he saw that someone higher in terms of the tank is helping him out. "good morning mingyu." he greeted, sitting on one of the sofas in the office. mingyu looked at him and smiled, getting back to his chair and holding a pen as he starts signing the papers.

seungkwan looked around, seeing the beautiful view of the beach where people are playing in. the office as you guessed (maybe) is neat and organized, mainly because the employee is the one who cleans up the place weekly. he's the worker that many others are jealous of because he got extra pay and can meet executives and managers for some reason. but he doesn't attend to all those words being hurled to him, as long as he keeps his job he's still good enough to stay as human.

"hey kwannie?" the younger called out, seungkwan stood up and faced mingyu who's still sitting on his execute chair. "can you give to security floor two?"

"you always make me do things I don't like, don't you?"   
"I'm your boss. maybe. there's someone above me-"

"I'm leaving before another word come out of your mouth. good day." the younger raced to the elevator, thinking that it is still empty until he saw more than twelve people inside trying to fit in so that they can go down. that means he needs to go down the stairs of ten floors.

mingyu looked at the mysterious book once again, the same velvet texture being hurt by the glimmering sun. curious, he opened the book and viewed the last few pages seeing nothing but a blank sheet of faint crimson color. his eyes drifted to the papers that he's going to sign once again, and went back to work like the usual.

the director is one of a kind. university was quite heavy for him since he loved going to parties and meeting people more than just staying at home studying. eventually, his parents wanted him to get a second degree since being an executive means that he has to be one of the best people receiving the best and the most maximum education. he recieved the tank with no effort because the ceo is no other than his best friend, which we will keep as a secret first because literally, no one knows who the ceo is and his whereabouts. yeah, he's the strange kind, but no one really cared but respected him for being one of the largest resources of food and drinks.

as a few hours pass mingyu decided to bring back the strange book to the library. as usual, he took his umbrella from it's holder and walked out of the room, not forgetting to turn off the lights. he greeted a few employees who still looked fresh despite having really strong winds near the front office. a few smiled and waved and some saw from far away whispering at how attractive the man is. his features really stand out from everybody; from his clear skin to his clean lips, height not all people got to have in their genes as well as his body proportion that makes everyone think that he suited a model instead of a businessman.

the director tapped his card on the identity proof and walked out of the large building and into the rain not forgetting to get his umbrella to protect him from the harsh rain. sure his pants got a little soaked but it's better than having his head in the rain.

"this book isn't something I'd expect from a reader like you." mingyu said as he hands over the book to wonwoo. "of course you're wrong. that's why i didn't finish it."

"wonwoo, do you mean that the book is unfinished?"

"really?" the older looked into mingyu's eyes, still as shiny as ever. it has always been how wonwoo became attracted to mingyu, it's because of his eyes that never fail to make him fall into the deep depths of love. personality is also a plus, since mingyu would always laugh at everything he does (mainly because wonwoo speaks like a robot). "I never noticed that."

the librarian turned to his professional self, maintaining a straight face as he flipped the last page, widening his eyes at a small sign in the middle of the page. "what are you staring at the book like that? did something- oh."

the younger saw what in his eyes, is magic. the color of the sign is purple which is a symbol of royalty and that's how many right and royal people in the past got to wear such a color. the sign looked like the number one and seven mashed together but the horizontal lines of the seven extended to the one as well. to mingyu it looked like an open box with a straight cut in the middle, diving it. below the strange number lookalike is a small writing that the both of them couldn't understand, nor does anyone on Earth because it is of no language.

"what do you think this might me? oh, and when I shift the book a little yo the left or right, it dissapears." wonwoo said, his voice wasn't as dark as it used to be, more like a sound of a young boy being curious of literally everything. "we should leave it alone. this might not sound good but, it may be..."

"it may be what?"

mingyu took a large gulp, and flipped the book around to see the large piece of gold sitting in the middle of the hard cover pressing it but strangely, there was a small click.

...


	3. [three]

click.

the two men looked at each other in fear. there was no one in the library nor is anyone going in. because all they could feel is the cold breeze behind them.

a very, very, very cold breeze.

...

mingyu saw that the ground is made of ice.

cold, cold ice. the man looked around, but all he could see is the vast view of snow falling on his head and all over the mountains that stretch as far as eyes can see. "wonwoo?" the first person he remembered he shouted the name. there wasn't an answer which made him frustrated and scared.

"wonwoo, where are you?" again he yelled, trying so hard not to fall down and cry. is this real? is this just a dream that he would get out of and go back to the real world? "please answer me. I know you're there."

calm down.

sighing, mingyu brought his body up to stand and walked. his body ached and not a single muscle is strong enough to let him run fast.

the man suddenly fell and his face got hit by the hard ice. looking at what made him trip he picked up the object to find out that it's the book that still had it's usual blue velvet color. what made mingyu wonder is how it's still very clean. there may be something here. mingyu opened the casing, thankful that the key is still intact. "polius... ice... village? village!" he smiled as his hands touched the map that still visible. but wherever he looked all he could see is ice, snow, and no sign of humans and habitats around.

"wonwoo, please help me. I know you're there!" all those words felt useless because he didn't see any sign of footsteps or the breath of any creature. as minutes past, he saw that his hands are starting to turn red due to the cold weather which later turned purple. mingyu is not going to survive in such a weather. "am I going to die like this? oh god, what have I done."

he'll be all over the news. name on the headlines and on top of everyone's heads. how can he die so easily like that? he spend his life learning and growing, but all he could do in the last minutes of his life is to stay still and wait for the pain to go away forever. "I miss you mom, and dad. please never tell my brothers to do things to collect money for your own needs and don't tell them to be more adult because I want them to have the best childhood. and seungkwan, I really want to tell you that you've been making my heart race. I like you and if you hear this just know that you will have to-"

he stopped when he heard steps, just a few barely heard footsteps. it grew closer, and even closer, to make mingyu realise that his face and name wouldn't be on every home's television. "hello?"

still no answer.

"anyone?" cautious, his hands slide inside the pockets of his wet coat. he brought himself back to a stand again.

mingyu didn't realise the sudden bang coming from his left, causing him to fall to the snow, unconcious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this short chapter, I have nothing in mind right now.


	4. [four]

he woke up on a bed and a room that seemed unfamiliar to him. the faint smell of baked bread filled the room and entered his nose, making him in the need to eat. he suddenly   
question how long has it been since he has eaten or drank something. mingyu was about to leave the room but realised that his foot had a strange linen wrapped around it and he felt some strange liquid inside. the man didn't dare to open what's inside because he knows that he's injured badly. there are bruises on his arm and one on his cheeks when he checked on a large bowl of water.

"you're awake." someone greeted him, a young boy with golden hair decorated with glitter that made his appearance quite interesting. "who are you?" mingyu asked, trying to get himself up at the same time still admiring the boy's whole body. the boy wore brown khaki pants and a very long cardigan topped with a beret and a pair of glasses. "im jeonghan."

mingyu's head tilted in confusion, knowing nothing about what the boy just said. "oh, don't you understand? is it my language?" the stranger spoke, grinning while walking closer to the injured man. he finally spoke in a language that he understood, but still wondered why he knows what language he needed to speak. "im jeonghan."

"oh! hello jeonghan." mingyu's face lit up as he shook hands with jeonghan. "may i ask how you got here?"

"i don't know, i just came here because there was this book- the book!" the younger shouted, looking around to see the blue colored book. "do you mean this?" jeonghan held the book in his hands but something seemed to be missing. "do you have the key, by any chance. i need that book so that i can somehow get out of here."

jeonghan looked at the man in confusion that even mingyu looked like an idiot. "is this place polius?"

"yes. welcome to polius. and also, i need to tell you something. your friend is outside, would you like to talk to him?"

mingyu widened his eyes, not caring if his feet are still injured, because he knows that wonwoo is going to be outside and safe. "i need to speak to him!" he spoke out and tried his best to get out of the bed only to fail miserably because of how painful it is just to move it around, imagine if he has to walk with that.

"ill bring him to you. just you wait." jeonghan held mingyu back to his bed and flipped the covers to close mingyu's wound. he waited patiently but his face fell when he saw seungkwan walk in. the younger was dressed the same way all of the employees in where mingyu worked in; brown dress shirt and gray khaki pants, but this time seungkwan's hair was messed up and he didn't really look impressed with the surprise. "seungkwan?" mingyu widened his eyes as he stood still under the covers.

"I got sucked by that portal, okay? I was trying to find you but I saw the librarian with you!" the employee yelled, worry painted on his face. "are you okay? I saw that you passed out in the middle of nowhere."

"I'm okay. how did you get here?"  
"jeonghan saw the both of us. he was hunting for whatever he could find. they say food is scarce here."

mingyu couldn't believe he got sucked by a portal and now he has an injured leg, wonwoo is lost and seungkwan is also part of the problem. pressing the bridge of his nose, mingyu sighed and looked around to see the same book on the end table next to the bed. "did you read this?"

"I did. it was because I got bored watching you stay still like a dead animal." seungkwan laughed, trying to lift the tension between the two but failed miserably because mingyu couldn't make out the words he's trying to say. "wonwoo's lost. I couldn't find him when I woke up."

"I know. but what I also found out about the book having a map? we can get somewhere to find wonwoo, even if it's not possible we can try to get out of here. remember this page?" the man took the book, and showed the last page where there is a map. the map looked complicated but the both of them still could read it well to get around.

...

jeonghan looked at both of them and went back to the map. the two knew that jeonghan has been in polius for his entire life, so maybe the man has some ideas to bring them back. "I've never seen a map like this! we have this one in polius." the oldest showed them a three dimensional version of their map that had small blocks that represent shops and homes. in the middle stood a town hall that looks exactly like the one in town, except that theirs don't have a large field to have many events in. "this is the town hall where we host debates and town improvements. it's pretty cool because the king loves it if he receives feedback. there's something weird going on these days because there weren't any of those right now. maybe because the king is busy preparing a ball." jeonghan wondered, still looking at the map from the polius book. mingyu recalled how their veroevalen, his city, has city halls and shops too, except that the shops in polius look like they came straight out of shakespeare's time.

"so can you help us? we really need to go home back to our city." the youngest asked, seeing that jeonghan had finished looking at the flat map from the book. "we can go to the king to do that. but be careful, sometimes the king doesn't like getting distracted by us villagers. we just walk around and trade while the king does his work. don't worry, some of the guards there are my friends."

"but my injured leg, do I have to heal it first?" mingyu asked, patting seungkwan's back as the younger sat on his back. jeonghan tapped his chin, then checked the director's injury. "it's just a simple bruise. well you know what, I have this balm that can help that wound heal in just a day." the owner of the house walked out of the room but his voice is still steady in terms of volume.

the balm was the color of light green, similar to the color of your green highlighter. it was an unnatural color but the fact that it heals in one day makes it more unrealistic. "why is it that color?"

"it's green. that's normal for most medicines here. oh, I once heard a wise man who lived high on the mountains say that even with the boring color everything is possible in polius, you should go check him out! he says that he isn't from here but from this world called earth? I've never heard about that term in a long time." the oldest rambled while the two who came from earth had their mouths wide open.

"wait jeonghan, pause a second." seungkwan interrupted, puting his hands close enough to touch jeonghan's nose. "did you-"

"you said a second?"  
"no. until I finish speaking."  
"oh, sorry about that. I thought you meant for real a second! how dumb am I."

"okay, so earth? yeah, we can from there. do you know by chance veroevalen?" silence entered the room, because all jeonghan knew was polius. everything about his life is polius, he practically live and die there. "no, sadly. I'd really love to read about them!"

"well, for now you can read this book." mingyu tossed jeonghan the polius book, which dropped flat on the ground because of jeonghan's poor reflex.

he flipped some pages around, even some he got to look closely into it. "hmm. I've never heard about the king so deeply in my life. brown hair, slim and handsome. some times he lead battles and always won a large land for polius to expand the country... wow. our king rarely does this. are you sure it's the real polius book? because we have one in our library. sadly many people wanted to borrow it. we can do that first thing in the morning tommorow if you can." jeonghan placed back the book on the bedside table and made sure that mingyu had the bandages tightly wrapped around the wound that previously had been placed by the mysterious balm. seungkwan went inside the bathroom located not close to mingyu's bed and laid down on his own after washing himself.

"goodnight kwan." the older whispered, his eyes slowly closing on it's own. "night. hope you get better." and that was enough to make mingyu blush.

...

mingyu bumped the frame of the door, and rubbed the part in contact after.

it has been more than a week since the man was left on the snow. his injuries didn't really heal fully as there was a slight pain when someone presses it. fortunately, he was able to walk well but he would always bump the top of the door frame. jeonghan wasn't really ready for that so the door was only a few centimeters away from the top of his head, which wasn't enough for mingyu since he's taller.

"why are houses in polius very short?" seungkwan said out loud, helping mingyu get some medicine for the injury. jeonghan raised his shoulders, "it has always been like this. some are taller by a few, like bakeries and the town hall. have you heard about the library? it has one of the most beautiful ceilings and doors. of course the king wanted it that way, he loves the library so much because of his brother."

"realy now? that interesting."

"it really is. i really want to go there but most of us are not allowed in." the man stated, some weird accent could be heard loud and clear. mingyu wondered if everyone if polius has that accent. in every end of the sentence it would always sound like a question but in every question it would always sound like someone commanding to do things, I hope you understand. "are we going now? the old man must have had a lot of people coming to him."

"but jeonghan, did you tell us that it is on the top of a hill?" the employee asked, looking at mingyu whos looking strangely at a cat with blue and purple fur. funny enough, it does resemble a lion but a cat at the same time. it has a small frame but its teeth looked sharp and can bite into anyone's skin. "are you looking at my beautiful flame, mingyu?" jeonghan completely forgot about seungkwan's presence and came to pick the cat up.

"you named that cat flame?" mingyu asked, standing up to pet the cat. "its not a cat. its a wayfarer. ive never heard of the word cat. is it another name for this species?" "yes, actually. won has a cat too at home." mingyu sat down once again, his face fell as he looked down to the carpet floor.

"we're gonna find wonwoo, mingyu. i can feel that."

"i just hope he's okay now."

"since when did you start caring for him?"

"since... im not even sure."

"whoever he is, we should try to get him back to you and you guys can start living your lives in earth." jeonghan rubbed mingyu's back as he placed flame down on the floor, the wayfarer walking gracefully towards whatever the species want.

...

"you sure youre holding onto that rope well?" jeonghan yelled out, his hands still holding onto his life properly while the other two sqeezed their eyes, not wanting to see death that fast. flame looked below because his body was attached to jeonghan's cat strap, or whatever that name is. the wayfarer made mewling noises, paws attached to jeonghan's waist because it could see two men struggling.

the mountain didnt really look pleasant to the eye, which made seungkwan and mingyu wonder how the wise man walk up to the highest point of all polius (as jeonghan claimed it be). "you know, i should've excercised more than i should back in veroevalen!" mingyu yelled, as he tried his best to still cling to the rope so that jeonghan can pull the rope to bring them back to safety. their trip looked awesome but when you see the mountain in their view you'll freak out due to the depth of the small pit. it looked deep when in reality its just too dark but still, it looked like a marker the color of black on a whiteboard.

"hold on to the rope please! I don't want you two to fall." jeonghan shouted, peeking from the edge of the cliff to see two men struggling to keep themselves alive. "just please hurry up."

"I will."

there's still more walking to do, because after the cliff there would be a road filled with weird white plants that look like umbrellas taking the ground. "how lovely. I'm guessing this is some flower that doesn't exist on earth, don't you think?"

seungkwan took one of them and looked at it closely. it has a significant smell, but the man could put his finger on it. the color was white but a little hint of yellow was shown near the ends of the tiny flower, and sprouts of whatever it is right in the middle. strangely enough the scent started getting funkier, but still looked as fresh as it did before it got picked up. "do you smell that?"

"maybe because you picked it up kwannie. see, it's started getting yellow."  
"but flame is just eating one whole."

"flame! don't do that- wait what?" surprised, jeonghan widened his eyes at the little wayfarers because it's fur started turning a red-yellow ombre color. "I never knew you could do that. maybe because I never let you go here."

the small pet made a face, and walked father away from jeonghan after he let go. "that's strange. the house looked so close now. can you see that brown dot over there?"

"yeah. I can see that. it doesn't look so close to me." mingyu put his arm close to the top of his head to block the low branch that stood so proudly just like the other ones he needed to face. "why is everything so short here?"

"or you're just too tall, gyu." seungkwan scoffed, looking at mingyu who's still struggling to get a branch out of his face.

"ahhh!" mingyu yelled. the two other men stopped their tracks and look back to see mingyu on the ground, a large number of the same flowers they saw earlier. "I hate these branches." jeonghan laughed when he heard mingyu complain, taking the younger's hand to pull him up to a stand. "take care, just try to duck, it's not that hard." seungkwan stated, still laughing imagining if he really saw mingyu fell.

"I think we'll be there in a few more minutes. for now, just think if what you want to ask. I'm sure you a bunch. but seriously, we could've been here earlier or-"  
"or?"  
"we'll have to wait for a few people."

what they saw looked like people going to a concert and waiting for the domes to open.

...


	5. [five]

"is it just me or is the line not moving?" seungkwan asked as he sat down on the grass, peeking from the side. "I'm still not sure yet. but well soon move, just you wait."

mingyu also sat, looking at flame who's running towards him. the man laughed, seeing that it's fur went back to it's usual blue and purple. "jeonghan, what are those flowers?"

"they're called white serpents. no one ever named it so some of my friends did. the flower resembles close to our dragons, don't you think?"  
"wait, there are dragons here?"  
"yeah. have you seen one? it's head has a cone similar to those flowers. they're small, so most people started making those dragons their pets. the cool thing is, they still blow fire wherever they sneeze."

"everything in polius is weird." mingyu shook his head, plucking some lime colored grass and fiddling with it.

the view from the tall mountain looked like they're on earth, or simply just that windows wallpaper with all those greens and blues skies except that there aren't cows walking around. the clouds doesn't look so distant, which is why mingyu could "feel" the gust of air from every bit of the clouds when it's just the wind that's blowing his hair and clothes.

"of course. in our old language polius means strange land. but we never get to use the language again after a long time. most of the generations after us don't even know the language, which saddens me." jeonghan huffed, hands crossed as he peeked at the line that moved slightly, but not major. "do you still know some words?"

"not really. it's been a long time since I've used the language. it's mostly my parent's fault because they forgot about me and left me in the orphanage. no one could speak the language better then I do in the orphanage, but no one talked with with the language so I forgot how it sounded like. I know some, but I'm not confident." jeonghan described, taking one step forward knowing that someone else has come to the wise man's house. "that's crazy. did the people working there know about the language, whatever the name is?" mingyu asked.

"it's called prae, the name of the language. and no, they never talked about it. maybe because they're so ignorant about the kids that live there that they didn't even want to talk to us."

"do you see this, mingyu? it's about a girl drowned because she told the orphanage that she wanted to die rather than living in a rathole."  
"no. what about it."  
"like I said."  
"sure. I mean, you lived there before."

"yeah. I want to do that too, drown. I want to get rid of everything in my life." wonwoo stated as he flipped his hook upside down so that he can read that page after. "don't say that. never do that. you're worth it."

"thanks."

silence.

"wonwoo?"  
"hmm?"  
"nevermind."

wonwoo made a confused face, his face crumpled like paper as he placed himself back to a proper sit. "tell me." mingyu smiled, knowing that wonwoo is a very curious boy. he knew that by the word nevermind wonwoo would tease him and annoy him just because he never wanted those words coming out of his mouth. "tell me. mingyu. I'll choke you if you-"

"do you like that orphanage?"  
"of course, you dumb idiot. I want that building reduced to ashes." wonwoo stated, holding onto mingyu's thick upper arm. "remember when I wanted to do that but I reminded myself that I'm the next in line for a good job in that food company?"

"of course. you were such a coward. now you're..."  
"...I'm the bravest man you've ever seen that you'd fall in love with m- that was nothing!"

"what do you mean nothing? that was clearly something."

mingyu looked around and ran towards his laptop, running towards the door to avoid many other of wonwoo's questions. "bye, wonwoo! I'll take charge for the books!"

"that's just horrible in ways I cannot describe." seungkwan frowned, seeing that jeonghan did too. but mingyu was so focused with the flashback played like a record in his mind. his eyes fixated on the large empty field that's filled with nothingness. the world revolved in his mind and only on his mind. suddenly words started being thrown at him, all those words but him really hard that he started to close his eyes. the words, all those harsh words was the only thing that entered his ears.

disgusting rat... you deserve this...

don't dissapoint me you little-

go die in hell... you're just some bag of bones...

die, die, die!

burn yourself!

I'll throw you off this floor if you keep crying.

cut those veins of yours!

die.

die.

die.

die.

die.

but those words aren't directed to him. but to wonwoo. jeon wonwoo, owner of a quiet reserved library. friends with a bunch of crackheads and idiots that came without him trying. his eyes are always so beautiful and scary at the same time. it's sparkled like the sun but at times blunt and empty like a dark void.

when he was just a boy, a little over nine, walked upstairs quietly and trying his best to conceal the soft breaths that are rapid because he was running. hearing loud footsteps he approached the back of a cupboard in order to not get himself killed for going in the orphanage as a stranger. mingyu really needed to meet wonwoo because he knows that would always go here weekly.

"wonwoo?"

"mingyu? are you okay?" mingyu opened his eyes again to see seungkwan putting the back of his hand on his warm forehead. "i-im fine. I was just thinking about things." the youngest sighed, taking mingyu's hand and lifting mingyu up so that he could stand and walk towards the empty line. there wasn't anyone, and it was getting dark by the minute. "you were sleeping so I put you on this shed. and you're looking tired."

"not anymore. where's jeonghan?"  
"he's inside. and just in time, you could ask some questions. turns out that the man came from earth."

"really?" mingyu asked as he brought himself to a stand faster because eof the sudden news. seungkwan nodded, and motioned the older to walk to the house.

the house didn't really look pleasant to the eye outside but once the two men walked inside everything looked magical. heavy looking chandelier rests on the middle of the ceiling and some owls looking at the strangers with their piercing eyes. at first mingyu feared that they're gonna eat his face alive but they only sat still, heads turning once in a while.

"you must be mingyu." a man with a deep, croaky voice said. jeonghan looked at mingyu in fear and worry, but kept his calm.

the wise man didn't look wise at all; he looked very young in fact. hair that sat atop the man's head looked like it had a fresh haircut. the color was a very light colored blue, almost similar to a baby blue color but darker. his face is sharp but his eyes looked adorable. everything about the wise man didn't look like what mingyu imagined. the environment however, is what he expected. the smell of wood and forests is familiar to him, except that it's not so sharp.

"good afternoon." the man greeted after not hearing mingyu's voice in tiny font. "sir, or whatever I should call you, I'm from this planet called earth."

the man laughed, "yes, I know. I used to live there. I recall having a portal sucking my body after I saw the symbol located in a random page. anyways, call me seungcheol. I don't need to be called sir and whatnot."

"oh. and... do you know how to bring me back?" mingyu asked. seungcheol went back to his room, making the three wonder what is happening. seungcheol brought another man a little shorter than seungkwan, and the man greeted the three men. "mingyu?"

"I knew this day would come. mingyu has been clumsy ever since the date was born."

"jihoon? is this where you've gone?" mingyu yelled, his hands stretched out to hug jihoon. "it has only been four years, of course I'm still alive. and not touch me, I've haven't recovered yet." jihoon ordered, revealing a scar above his abdomen.

"so wonwoo lended us... it was the book that made us travel here." seungcheol whispered, taking a few steps forward to approach mingyu who was holding the blue book. "you know this?"

"of course. we're friends as children." that's true. except that the two disappeared just a few years ago and everybody started looking for them, failing miserably.

"so can you help us? turns out that we want to go back." mingyu asked. seungcheol and jihoon looked at each other, and said, "you might have to ask the king."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, ill make a longer one next time.


	6. [six]

"I can't believe that we're walking back some stupid rope again," mingyu said as he looked at the cliff with a long sigh. apparently seungkwan is used to seeing mingyu complain like a baby, even if mingyu is an executive director of a large company. inside, mingyu is just a little kid who is fond of getting cotton candy bought by his mom and read comics from the library instead of borrowing it and reading at home. his appearance doesn't match his face, as seungkwan thought that it was true.

"well, would you rather die here than reach home?" the younger asked as he placed his hand on the rope, feet at the vertical ground. as they were reaching down the very steep cliff that no one can cross by walking, mingyu yelled and closed his eyes, which caused the other two to laugh uncontrollably. "after most of the laugh had died they started going down with a faster pace, maybe because they're already used to it. 

"so are going to go to the king? I've never even met him in my life. ill always see him in pictures and even some are as magnificent as he is right now." jeonghan explained, pointing at the pictures he treasured. many people have never seen the king just like he did, but eventually, they will on their deathbeds. you see, some people get visited when they're about to die in their beds, only the lucky ones get to, and that's been everyone's pride. "you've never seen the king your entire life?"

"as I said, only in pictures. to be honest," jeonghan moved closer to mingyu's ear while tip-toeing, "he has quite the face."

mingyu thought that a fly was talking to him in fly language so he yelled and tried running away only to see jeonghan laughing too hard he choked. seungkwan saw the fun in the scene and laughed while mingyu could only stay silent seeing two men having a good time. "stop it, you two."

"fine. but ill tell everyone once we get back home." seungkwan walked faster to catch up with mingyu. "wait, are you two actually going home? we have lots of good things going on in polus. the only few annoying things we get to see daily is a faraway throwing rainbow waste out of their buttholes and witches pulling pranks with their weird wooden stick but other than that, this place is a fantasy!" jeonghan frowned, trying to catch up with the two strangers he met just several hours ago. "we would like to stay, but we need to find our other friend too- what the hell?"

mingyu couldn't believe his eyes. even if he knows that has some good eyesight it seems like his eyes were fooling him. in front of the three men was another human being (technically jeonghan is a human), dressed in the most earthly wear; a light brown dress shirt tucked in darker brown khaki pants by the hem, and a diamond-patterned cardigan. classic soonyoung.

"okay so I literally have no absolute fricking idea why it's so cold outside." soonyoung called out when he saw seungkwan walking at a much faster speed than mingyu and jeonghan. "why are you even here?"

"guess the portal didn't really close, huh?" mingyu scratched his head, wondering why soonyoung looks absolutely oblivious and calm. "soonyoung, you should head back to the portal. we don't even know where the portal is but please get back home." 

"why should I? aren't we in veroevalen?" the man looked around, seeing snowflakes everywhere. when he looked down, he saw the road partly covered in snow, maybe because someone has cleared it for themselves only to end up seeing the snow-covered road again by the time they went back. the road itself was questionable since, in veroevalen, the road was clean and made of the finest grey colored bricks. here, the road had some holes if they took a closer look, and it was probably so old and useless people in polus didn't mind having the road being that bad. soonyoung spotted no tall building like they used to be at home. "so where are we actually? nevermind that! I think its a-"

"It's not a dream, sadly." the youngest sighed, and continued walking while soonyoung caught up with him then walked the same pace. " wait seriously? so how did I get here?"

"some random portal mingyu opened because of some stupid book. now we're trying to get us out of here by pleading to the king."

"oh, so we're trying to get to the palace." soonyoung whispered to himself, then to the man beside him. "we have to go there and plead, easy."

"yeah, but mingyu's being a coward."

"what did you just say?"

"I said nothing!"

...

**Author's Note:**

> I'll try to write adventure for once :')


End file.
